Apparatus for connecting conduit sections



J. N. ICE

March 1s, 1941.

APPARATUS FOR CONNECTING CONDUIT SECTIONS Original Filed NOV. 50, 1958 Patented Mar. 18,1941

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FOR C'ONNECTING CONDUIT SECTIONS James N. Ice, Martins Ferry, Ohio, assigner to a trusteeship composed of himself, Alexander Best, and Samuel K.

W. Va., as trustees Frank, all of Wheeling,

2 Claims.

This invention is directed to an improved tool designed for permanently connecting the meeting ends of conduit pipe sections and providing in such connection a permanent metal seal. This application is a division of my application filed November 30, 1938, Serial No. 243,257, now issued as Patent Number 2,192,914, dated March 12, 1940.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a coupling for the meeting ends of tubular sections and involving a sleeve member to overlie and bridge the meeting ends of tube sections, with the tool capable of acting on the sleeve in a manner to insure that the material of the sleeve is upset or grooved in annular form and with suflicient force to similarly and correspondingly indent the material of the tubes, whereby a permanent connectionis made between the tubes and the interior of the tubes is permanently sealed against the admission `of moisture or other deleterious matter. j

The invention, therefore, consists in the provision of a tool by which the coupling is readily and conveniently formed with an annular depression which displaces the metal of the sleeve throughout the area oi "the depression, forming on the inner surface of the sleeve an annular projection which is itself forced into and forms an annular depression in the immediately underlying tube. As the formation results from a single operation of the tool, it is of course at once apparent that the projection on the inner surface Kof the sleeve is the sole means by which; the receptive depression in the outer surface of the tube is formed, and hence .there is such an intimate and exact fit between this projected area on the sleeve and in the tube that there is provided an absolutely complete seal against the passage of moisture, water or the like in the tube.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which: Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of the improved tool.

Figure 2 is a broken longitudinal section of the same with a sleeve and tube shown in section in position between the jaws.

Figure 3 is an end view of the jaws.l

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section showing the coupling and conduit sections following completion of the operation.

Figure 5 is a view in elevation showing the improvement applied to a terminal box connector.

'The improved tool comprises handles of which I may be termed the lixed handle and 2 the movable handle. The xed handle, as will kbe more clearly seen in Figure 2, is provided with a head 3 having adjacent its juncture with the handle a rounded upstandingprojection 4. In advance of the projection 4, the head is provided with an extension 5 having a forwardly extending offset 5, the head in advance of the extension being provided with a roller base formation 'I in which is mounted forming rollers 8 and 9.

Thehandle 2 carries a head I8- which is pivotally connected to the handle at I I, the head being also pivotally connected at I2 to the upper end of the extension 5. The head I8 is. re-

cessed longitudinally to receive the end of the handle 2 and the upper end of the extension 5, and in this recess above the rollers 8 and 9 is mounted a single forming roller I3.

The handle 2 is adjacent its pivot formed with a depending section I4 terminating in a rounded point I5 designed in operation to bear upon the rounded surface of the projection 4, the relation of the parts being such that when the movable handle 2 is depressed with respectto the handle I, the cooperation of the point I5 with the rounded ksurface of the projection 4 will rock kthe head I0 on its pivot I2 to cause the forming roller! I3 carried by the said head to move toward the rollers 8 and 9.

It is to be particularly noted that the roller 8 is of larger diameter than the rollers 9 and I3, which latter are of the same diameter, and that the rollers 8 and 9 have their operating planes on a line extending longitudinally `of the head 3. In other words, the operative portions of the Irollers 8 .and 9 are substantially on a line forming the base ofV a triangle of which the rollen I3 forms the apex, the triangle being substantially an equilateral triangle.

A block of rubber or other like resilient material I6 ris interposed in the recess of the head I0 bearing between the upper wall of that recess and the top of the offset 6, this rubber or like block functioning to return the head I8 to normal position when the pressure on the handles I and 2 is relieved and the handle 2 permitted to move away from the handle I.

'Ihe rollers 8, 9 and I3 are true rollers and not balls, and, as shown more particularly in Figure 3, they each comprise a body I'I movably fitted within the recesses in the respective heads and rotatably supported upon a shaft I8 mounted in the walls of the heads. Each body of a roller has an annular rib I9, the juncture of which with the body is rounded and the peripheral edge of which is also rounded on the edges.

The tubes to be connected in end to end relation to form a conduit are indicated in Figure 4 at 20. The connecting sleeve is indicated in this figure at 2|. This sleeve is previously formed therein with an annular inwardly extending rib 22 against which the ends of the tubes 20 bear in the assembly of the parts.

It is the purpose of the present tool to unite the sleeve and tube sections in a manner to secure them rigidly together and at the same time provide a sealing connection. This is eiected by placing the connected tube sections and applied sleeve between the rollers 8 and 9, on the one hand, and I3, on the other, and then depressing the handle 2 of the tool to cause the rollers to contact more or less with the surface of the sleeve. The sleeve elements are held against rotation and the tool is then rotated back and forth until they form in the sleeve, as at 23, an annular. channel which by reason of its inward projection 24 forms a corresponding and annular channel 25 in the tube.

The roller 8, which is of increased diameter with respect to the rollers 9 and I3, serves to permit a more convenient and easy rotation of the tool, for as the rollers 8 and 9 are in line, the initial biting effort of any one roller tends to provide a slight demarcation in the sleeve which serves as a guide for the movement of the remaining rollers and as the roller 8 is of greater diameter than the rollers 9 and I3, said roller 8 will serve to fit this demarcation to a somewhat increasing depth over the rollers 9 and I3 and maintain the channel formation in an accurate, positive annular line.

Thus, the rollers which iinally cooperate to form the groove or channel initially serve somewhat different functions, rst, in initially forming a slight depression and, second, in insuring that the rollers will operate within this depression in the further partial rotation of the tool.

In operation, it is understood that the tool is reciprocated in a rotary direction, beingcarried at each rotation somewhat more than half the circumference of the sleeve. This will insure the accurate, even and easy formation of the channels in the sleeve and naturally the automatic interlocking channels in the tube.

Of course, the tool will be operated on each portion of the sleeve overlying a particular tube end, so that both tube ends are interlocked and sealed in the manner described.

The tool may be utilized as applied to a terminal box connector for use in electrical service for which the interconnected conduits are more particularly designed. This terminal box connector is shown in Figure 5 and is made of an over-size conduit section 26 formed with an outstanding rib 21 to limit the application of the connector to the terminal box. The end of the conduit section is threaded at 28 to permit the application of the conventional securing nut on the inner side of the terminal box. The tube section, which forms the end of the electrical conduit and is indicated in Figure 5 at 29, is inserted in the connector 26 .and connection made through the provision of the channels, indicated at 30, by the use of the tool described.

It is, of course, to be understood that the tool is `available and practicable for any size of conduit used in normal construction. It is of importance to note that in addition to the sealing t the improvement provides a connection of great tensile strength forming in eiect a perfect interlock resisting separation under a pull materially in excess of that to which the conduit would ever be subjected in use. Furthermore, with the sections connected in the manner described, there is provided a continuous solid pipe or conduit Which materially increases the life of the installation and one in which there is little possibility of a break or leak.

While the construction has been described in connection with a conduit designed for the connection of electrical wires and the like, it is of course to be understood that the apparatus is not to be restricted to this use, for such apparatus may eiiectively serve for interlocking and sealing the meeting ends of pipes or the like designed, for example, for the passage of water or other fluid, under which circumstances it is more important as in such instances the conduit as a whole is subjected at al1 times to the action of water or the like from within.

What is claimed to be new is:

1. An apparatus for providing an interlocking sealing connection between the meeting ends of conduit sections, and a coupling overlying said conduit ends, comprising a tool having a fixed jaw and a movable jaw, said jaws presenting opposed flat parallel faces, a roller carried by one of the jaws, a pair of rollers carried by the opl' posing jaw, one of the pair ofl rollers being of a slightly increased diameter with respect to the remaining roller of the pairthe rollers operating in the same circumferential plane.

2. A construction as defined in claim 1 wherein the single roller is carried by the movable jaw and the pair of rollers carried by the fixed jaw, the rst roller on the fixed jaw, considered in the direction from the handles of the jaws, being the roller of the greatest diameter.

' JAMES N. ICE. 

